Flexible and Future-Proof Educational Environments

At Thrive, we work with you to develop learning environments that are flexible and future-proof, yet perfectly suited to your educational specifications. We’re well-versed in today’s teaching paradigms and help lead your team to solutions that are fresh, dynamic, and well-adapted to the 21st century learner.

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Flexible and Future-Proof Educational Environments

At Thrive, we work with you to develop learning environments that are flexible and future-proof, yet perfectly suited to your educational specifications. We’re well-versed in today’s teaching paradigms and help lead your team to solutions that are fresh, dynamic, and well-adapted to the 21st century learner.

Jefferson-Houston PK-8

Jefferson-Houston PK-8

Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 School

Alexandria Public Schools

The new school is framed by the mature trees of its historic neighborhood in Old Town Alexandria.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial stands reverently overlooking the school honoring Thomas Jefferson and Charles Hamilton Houston.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

An artificial turf field invites active play and invites joint use by local community groups.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

Housing the entrance lobby and a rooftop solar observatory, the glass-enclosed cylinder visually anchors the approach from North Peyton Street.

Image Courtesy of Eric Taylor and VMDO Architects

The building scale, materials, and articulation harmonize a contemporary building with the historic character of Old Town.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

Exterior shading on the south-facing façade was optimized through iterative energy modeling and analysis to reduce energy consumption and minimize unwanted glare in the learning environment.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

The lobby reflects a minimalist aesthetic that emphasizes functionality of the learning environment. Color and exposed building components add character to the interior spaces.

Image Courtesy of Eric Taylor and VMDO Architects

Ground-and-polished concrete provides a durable and elegant finish that can be easily maintained with non-toxic cleaning products.

Image Courtesy of Eric Taylor and VMDO Architects

Environmentally-friendly and naturally anti-bacterial linoleum is deployed on both floors and walls to bring color to the commons area in each classroom cluster.

Image Courtesy of Eric Taylor and VMDO Architects

Fresh and healthy meals are delivered to several remote serveries throughout the school, allowing students to dine in their own commons area.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

High-bay LED lights are rarely used in the shared use gymnasium which is naturally daylit by clerestories and well-shaded south-facing glazing.

Image Courtesy of Eric Taylor and VMDO Architects

Rooftop monitors provide abundant daylight to the Pre-K common areas.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

The short western end of the building, seen here from the Masonic National Memorial, has few openings, protecting the interior from excessive solar gains and low-angled glare.

Image Courtesy of Sam Kittner and VMDO Architects

A New Neighbor in Old Town

The Jefferson-Houston PK-8 School, built in the shadow of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, is one of just four “failing” schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With the state prepared to take over operation of the school, the APS administration committed to building this ambitious new facility in which students follow an International Baccalaureate curriculum. The school and the school design focus on the whole child, and simultaneously offer universal design features that support the school’s large population of multiple-disability children.

The design team inspired and designed a first-of-its-kind food service model that prepares school food centrally and delivers fresh food to each classroom pod, allowing students to dine in their own multi-purpose extended learning areas. The school and school grounds also serve this urban community’s extensive need for indoor and outdoor shared-use facilities.

Architect of Record Steve Davis, with VMDO Architects

Project Facts

127,000 GSF

$37,700,000

Completed August 2014

Energy Use: Modeled at 33.1 kBTU/gsf/yr

First year’s usage not yet available

Awards and Recognition

Outstanding Project, Learning by Design

Certified LEED Gold

Platinum Design Award | Virginia School Boards Association

Best School Project | AGC Washington DC Chapter

Publications

“Health and Education”, featured in Architectural Products Magazine

Buford Engineering Design Academy

Buford Engineering Design Academy

Buford Engineering Design Academy

Charlottesville City Schools

Buford's STEM-based curriculum integrates engineering design into each of the science classrooms

Science Experiment

This renovation of four middle school science classrooms transformed an out-of-date and dark part of the building into a brighter and healthier educational environment that inspires students and staff while providing the spaces and tools to support the school’s evolving engineering curriculum and Next Generation Science Standards. The design orients permanent fixtures along the classroom perimeters and utilizes rapidly-reconfigurable furnishings for teacher stations and collaborative work areas.

All Around the Mangoes

This new school for an American-based non-profit working in Hinche, Haiti will provide classrooms for children in grades 1 through 9. The site is adjacent to an existing orphanage compound and will share resources with those buildings which are operated by the same non-profit. The school is divided into multiple buildings and thereby keeps children in clusters of similarly-aged peers while also facilitating the construction phasing process. The proposed buildings wrap the edge of gentle plateau and frame two enormous Mango trees, around which local children frequently gather.

Resiliency planning provides for passive survivability of the complex and ensures that the new buildings can endure seismic events, tropical deluges, and hurricane-force windspeeds.

Project Architect Steve Davis, for Building Goodness Foundation

Project Facts

22,100 GSF

$1,300,000

Under Construction

Energy Use: Targeting zeroenergy

VCU Pollak Green Roof

VCU Pollak Green Roof

Pollak Building Green Roof

Virginia Commonwealth University

Sunrise casts a soft glow on the rooftop terrace.

Image Courtesy of Ansel Olson and VMDO Architects

The cylindrical steel planters, showing a rich patina of iron oxide, were cut from the sections of a steel tower found at a local salvage yard.

Image Courtesy of Ansel Olson and VMDO Architects

The canopies of mature trees around the building provide a sense of enclosure for the fifth-floor terrace.

The unfinished Black Locust bench and Pennsylvania Bluestone pavers create a quiet get-away high above the bustle of the university campus.

Image Courtesy of Ansel Olson and VMDO Architects

Ironically, some cultivars of the Swamp Sunflower can thrive in a sun-baked and windswept environment as is found on a green roof.

New Refuge for School of the Arts

The Pollak Building Green Roof was the first green roof on the Monroe Park Campus and helped VCU satisfy the overwhelming student demand for more visible sustainability initiatives. The terrace maximizes the code-allowable occupiable area to provide a natural respite from the severe architecture of the Brutalist art school building. The plantings are organized to demonstrate three different types of green roof—sedum, meadow, and native. For the native section, the team worked with a green roof horticulturalist to identify a wide array of Virginia natives that were suitable for the harsh sun-baked and wind-driven environment.

Straight-forward construction detailing simplifies construction for the American volunteers and semi-skilled Haitian laborers.

Image Courtesy of VMDO Architects

American and Haitian laborers working side-by side to prepare the reinforcing for a concrete wall pour.

Perimeter walls offer a stark reminder that life in Haiti can be challenging.

Image Courtesy of Tom Daly Photography

Re-Building Haiti

This trade school serves a growing need in the mountaintop community of Thomassin, Haiti. The school was chartered after the earthquake to teach construction trades and basic business skills to the local workforce. The design uses locally available materials and local craftsman (such as decorative welders) to create a signature building in the community which simultaneously reflects a contemporary aesthetic and Haitian building traditions.

In the computer lab, equipment can be stowed in the worksurface to maximize adaptability of the space.

Image Courtesy of Ansel Olson and VMDO Architects

Overhead power reels in the new student-run Maker Space support reconfiguration of the space and help maintain a safe and tidy work environment.

Image Courtesy of Ansel Olson and VMDO Architects

An Innovation Renovation

This term-contract summer project included the renovation of one floor in an existing academic building. All classrooms were upgraded with current technologies and new finishes. An aging computer lab was converted into a new student commons, and two classrooms were combined into a single multi-use maker space.